The Latest: White House launches new AI effort

The Trump administration is launching a new effort it says could foster more artificial intelligence research and development to maintain U.S. leadership in the field.

WASHINGTON — The Latest on White House tech summit (all times local):

1 p.m.

The Trump administration is forming a new committee that it hopes will help foster more research and development in artificial intelligence to maintain U.S. leadership in the field.

President Donald Trump's technology adviser, Michael Kratsios, is announcing the initiative Thursday at a White House summit with tech executives and AI researchers.

The White House says the new committee will coordinate AI activities across federal agencies, including research and policy related to self-driving vehicles, biometric identification, computer vision and robotics.

Technology leaders have pushed the administration to be more focused on both the economic potential of AI technologies and the disruption it could cause to existing jobs.

Tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft as well as retailers, banks, drugmakers, carmakers and food companies are participating in Thursday's event.

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3 a.m.

Top U.S. tech executives and researchers are planning to press the Trump administration to invest in artificial intelligence and craft policies they hope will strengthen the economy without displacing jobs.

The White House is hosting the "Artificial Intelligence for American Industry" event Thursday. Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft are among dozens of tech firms attending. Top universities are also pitching for investment in basic research.

The meeting comes as some technology experts have criticized President Donald Trump and his administration for not paying enough attention to science and technology. They worry that the U.S. could fall behind.

Dean Garfield, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council, says it's been disappointing not to have more of a national movement around AI. But he says it's "better late than never."